Mapmakers (Multiverse)

Origin[]

To destroy the Multiverse, the Beyonders turned Owen Reece into the Molecule Man. This happened in every reality and he was their bomb originally meant to explode simultaneously. The incursions were the result of some of those Molecule Men going off prematurely, which began a chain reaction in which the Multiverse would collapse. The perpetrators were the Molecule Man himself and Doctor Doom (a.k.a. "Rabum Alal"), as they believed at the time that they could save the Multiverse by killing all of the Molecule Men early, despite the colliding realities.^[2][11]

Though the incursions were still part of the Beyonders' experiment,^{[10][4][12][13][14]} the Beyonders were annoyed by the "irritants";^[10] thus, they created a "problem-solving virus" three years into the incursions to infect artificial intelligences within the Multiverse like how Owen Reece was turned into the Molecule Man.^[2] The Mapmakers were based at the nothing space of destroyed universes; artificial intelligences like Adaptoids that contacted them were automatically converted into Mapmakers.^[1]

Among the Mapmakers' duties were charting worlds where the Molecule Man had died and tracking the movements of Rabum Alal's disciples, the Black Swans. Another faction, the Black Priests, emerged at around the same time as the Mapmakers, possibly as a reaction to them.^[2] The Mapmakers kept track of them too.^[8]

Blue Incursions[]

The Mapmakers travelled the Multiverse through the use of the incursions, passing from Earth to Earth, stripping those planets of all usable materials, down to the microbes in the soil and the elements in the core,^[5] a process that would take several weeks.^[6] True to their name, each world they visited were mapped and marked with a "buoy," which broadcasted a signal and created a massive map that spanned the Multiverse.^[15] Incursions that heralded the Mapmakers were blue instead of the regular red. The Mapmakers were one of the fiercest factions in the Game of Worlds.^[5][16][17]

During a blue incursion, the Sidera Maris, the Mapmakers' "Bridge Builders," were sent to the new Earth to hold that incursion zone. The "anchor planet" that they came from had been harvested and thus was a dead world stripped of all usable material and life. It had also been intentionally destabilized; around an hour into the incursion, a fragment of the dead world would be pulled down to the new Earth. This triggered the destruction of the dead world and the fragment of that crashing piece served as a marker for the Mapmakers to arrive to the surviving Earth. Since one of the Earths was destroyed, the incursion ended, allowing the Mapmakers to then harvest and map the new Earth. Because of how quick this process was, blue incursions were considered much more dangerous than red incursions.^[5][6][18]

Earth-616's first blue incursion was its fourth incursion overall. An imminent incursion was foretold by a Black Swan captured by the Illuminati, who took her to the incursion point at Latveria with an antimatter bomb. However, when they arrived, the Black Swan expressed fear that the incursion was blue. An invasion force of Sidera Maris descended upon Latveria; while Kristoff Vernard and Victor von Doom handled them, the Illuminati travelled to the dead anchor Earth and detonated the antimatter bomb before the Mapmakers could be summoned. Despite their efforts, the smallest fragment came through the zone and was found by Doom.^[5] Doom was stymied from further inquiries by the Illuminati members Reed Richards and Stephen Strange.^[19]

The Mapmakers were summoned to Tian of Earth-2319 by the Sidera Maris. Arriving in the city, they cataloged this world as an Omega-level threat due to the density of superhumans. The problem was dealt with by destroying the X-Gene carriers. Refusing to submit, the Illuminati of this world were killed, but one of the Mapmakers was destroyed by the Illuminati member Doctor Doom. The Mapmakers actions were observed through the Bridge by the Illuminati of Earth-616, who were researching the groups involved with the incursions.^[6]

The Mapmakers attempted an invasion of Earth-4290001. This was not this reality's first encounter with the Mapmakers. Their Sidera Maris were repelled by the Great Society and their anchor world was destroyed, though a marker was still successfully planted. Four Mapmakers arrived to take the world but the Great Society destroyed all four of them.^[20]

Time Runs Out[]

At Earth-616's Latveria, Doctor Doom's men doing their own investigation of the incursions. The fragmented piece of the Mapmaker world they had retrieved earlier was broadcasting a signal. With it, the Mad Thinker decoded the Mapmakers' map and found a way to those responsible for all this. Doom declared that those who manifactured doom would have to face Doom himself.^[15]

The signal had also allowed Doom to locate and retrieve the insane, immensely powerful being known as the Molecule Man, as they shared the exact same frequency. As a result, Doom deduced that the Molecule Man was connected to the incursions. After the Molecule Man interacted with the artifact, he took Doom on a journey to the origin of the incursions.^[7]

Other parties investigating the incursions also noticed the signal and the Mapmakers' map, but it was a deliberate trap set up by the Ivory Kings, a.k.a. the Beyonders. All factions researching the death of the Multiverse through the map were lured directly to the Beyonders and then eliminated. Witnessing this first hand, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym) and Captain Britain returned to Earth-616's Illuminati to report their findings.^[9]

Brian Braddock recounted how the Captain Britain Corps began looking into the multiversal collapse and eventually captured a Mapmaker. However, instead of following the harmonics, Saturnyne ordered the Corps to construct a beacon. Unfortunately, the Beyonders noticed this and sent all of their Mapmakers to attack Otherworld, decimating the Captain Britain Corps. Saturnyne was able to send Brian to Earth-616 to save his life.^[9] Saturnyne herself narrowly managed to escape by using the captured Mapmaker to open a tear in reality. Later landing in Blightspoke, she was confronted by Merlyn and Roma, used the Mapmaker's core to banish them, and discarded the Mapmaker in Blightspoke.^[21]

Hank Pym's account was far gruesome. Having been sent out to the Multiverse earlier, he had secretly hid amongst the Builders, who had gathered from all over the Multiverse. They too captured a Mapmaker and decoded the map; then, they used a genetically-engineered Manifold to arrive at the site of the Ivory Kings. However, the Builders soon learned that the trap was not even meant for them; the real targets were far bigger fish, the cosmic entities. In every single reality of the Multiverse simultaneously, the Beyonders slaughtered the Celestials, Eternity, Infinity, Master Order, Lord Chaos, the In-Betweener, and even the Living Tribunal. Pym hurried back to warn the Illuminati that the destroyers of the Multiverse were the Beyonders and the Multiverse stood no chance.^[9]

The Black Priests had informed the Multiversal Avengers that to get to the Ivory Kings, they would have to follow the Mapmakers.^[7] However, the accelerated decay of the Multiverse was causing the Mapmakers to malfunction. After finding their tenth or so nonfunctional Mapmaker, Abyss analyzed it and Nightmask was able to take the Multiversal Avengers to the Ivory Kings, but it was at the cost of his life. The rest of the Multiversal Avengers all died fighting the Beyonders.^[10]

The Mapmakers possessed scanners allowing them to determinate the threat level of the subjects they decide to analyse.^[6] They could adapt to any threat from their central A.I.^[20] They were also able to recognize specific genetic markers and neutralize any being carrying them.^[6]

According to the Black Priests, the Mapmakers possessed alternate reality viewers, as when the Illuminati of Earth-616 were anonymously observing them on Earth-23099 with the Bridge, the Priests asked if they were communicating with Mapmakers.^[8]

As evolved Adaptoids, Mapmakers can develop a response to any assault almost immediately.

Incursion, self propelled

• According to the Black Swan, the Mapmakers were major players in the Game of Worlds, mentioned in the same breath as groups like the Black Priests.^[22]
• To the religion of the Black Swans, the Mapmakers' blasphemous blue incursions robbed worlds from being "tested" by "The Wheel."^[5]